I suggest Blender VSE for doing the work you describe,although it will also limit the audio to a 384kbs mp3.But that is the best quality youtube will use for their site. blender 262 on precise 5.5 has been the most stable for me.Once you get familiar with it,-its not that hard to use,and can do way ...

This looks like a good video editor to try out. http://code.google.com/p/flowblade/ Currently using pup 528 but would be glad to try on any version of puppy. I am using a core 2 w/ 8 gig of ram. Doing pretty good with cinelerra but I like the features of flowblade Please dont make me hafta use ubunt...